Stained Hands
by Obscuris
Summary: Sector V barely survives a mission that changes their lives forever. The morning after the battle, the team debriefs it and tries to find some way to move on. Oneshot, no extra chapters, no sequels


Now opening: Kids Next Door writing log...

Title: "Stained Hands"

Rating: Teen/13+ for blood, violence, mild swearing

Summary: Sector V barely survives a mission that changes their lives forever. The morning after the battle, the team debriefs it and tries to find some way to move on. (One-shot, no extra chapters, no sequels)

Disclaimer: This is a Codename: Kids Next Door fanfic. Get that, FANfic. The show belongs to Tom Warburton and staff. So put down that phone.

Author's Note: This fic was started on August 6, 2005 and finished on August 8, 2005 (just so I'll remember the date). Thanks to Sgamer82 for beta-reading!

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Nigel Uno stood behind the podium in the control room, staring behind his dark sunglasses at his fellow operatives below who were sitting on a half-circle couch in some lower elevation of the floor. His friends wore grim faces. Hoagie sat there twiddling his thumbs and seemingly interested with the floor. Wally leaned against the couch with his arms crossed, but not out of defiance as usual. Abby had her red hat pulled down so it was a little difficult reading her expression although it was the same as the others. She patted her adjacent friend's shoulder, Kuki, whose eyes looked quite blank and she barely blinked.

All were silent except for the occasional sniffles from Kuki. The operatives did not look fully energized, eihter. It was as if they had little sleep last night, if any.

Finally, Nigel broke the silence and cleared his throat. "Well. Good morning, everyone. It is time for our debriefing, I suppose," he said, not having the usual commander enthusiasm that his teammates were familiar with after all these years. "Earlier this week there had been news of 'mysterious disappearances,' not only of children but adults as well. Even several Kids Next Door operatives. Global Command investigated these incidents and discovered there have been more disappearances in our area than others.

"Finally, last night, they found a possible location where they frequently saw a truck and a ship leave the building and arrive back. As this location was in our sector, we were selected as the operatives to investigate. So we went there, exploring the building until we found the cause of these disappearances..."

--- LAST NIGHT, THE MISSION ---

"All right, adult! Surrender now, you are outnumbered!" declared Nigel as he and the other kids pointed their 2x4 technology weapons at the villain. The villain himself was a middle-aged man wearing some kind of overcoat with unruly hair. He sneered at the adult-fighting children with eyes that could make even the evilest of beings quake in their boots.

"Wahahaha! Me, surrender? To YOU?" he retorted in a maniacal voice.

"You are responsible for what's been happening to these people!" growled the leader. "I don't know why you're doing this, but we're going to put a stop to it!"

But the villain just laughed, angering the Kids Next Door further.

"You are all fools to challenge me!" Then he abruptly calmed himself, his eyes returning to some kind of normancy, saying, "You signed your wills coming here." The kids took a step back at his sudden change. "Since you are all going to die anyway, allow me to tell you..." and abruptly, his eyes lit up again and he raised his voice, shouting, "my glorious plan of ultimate terror! And it involves my beautiful machine over there!"

He pointed behind him to a large machine with a computer screen and a large laser cannon pointing to the skylight above.

"I have it aimed for my personal satellite," he explained as he grew calm again. "I will blast the laser high into outer space toward the satellite. It will store energy from the laser's blast, where I will direct then be able to direct the coordinates to whichever location I please. When I press the execute button, the laser will rain down..."

"...and cause total destruction to its target!" he yelled, his crazed eyes and booming voice returning. "Everything and everyone within its blast radius will be destroyed!"

The villain let out another round of laughter. The operatives' eyes widened and they shook their heads in fear and disbelief. "You can't be serious!" Abby screamed. "You're trying to obliterate the entire planet? How could you do something like that?"

"Why? Because I like spreading fear; I love spreading terror! Hearing people screaming in fear, in horror, in terror is music to my ears! It is even more beautiful when I do the deed myself. Especially after they beg me to spare them! Their faces as they make pitiful pleas to let them live... it is an enjoyable sight to me! And the satellite will give me a perfect view on the screens as the laser destroys them, so that I can see them run for their lives in sheer panic!"

--- PRESENT DAY ---

"We would have thought that he was lying, that he was just messing with our heads. However, our thorough exploration of the lab confirmed that it was no joke. We crossed paths with the missing people -- his prisoners... and his victims. Global Command told us to do whatever it took to stop him. And we did just that. We fought hard. Unfortunately, despite being five against one, he held his own very well. We persevered at first. But then, the battle turned for the worse..."

The KND operatives looked down, each of them still unable to say anything. Kuki tightened her pants legs and bit her lower lip.

--- LAST NIGHT ---

"Good. Very good," the panting villain said calmly, tapping his laser gun on his leg while cracking his other hand's fingers. "Heheheh, for kids you aren't bad at all."

Those kids were in worse shape than the man, however. They, too, were panting, worn-out, and a few of them, especially Wally, sported bruises or laser burn marks. But despite their injuries they were still determined to fight to the end.

"But this is getting a little boring. I think I'll end this quickly, while making things more fun for me! Hahahaha, yes, YES!"

His deranged eyes returned as he let out another round of laughter. The Kids Next Door took a step back but Wally frowned and stepped forward again, clenching his fists, gnashing his teeth, and growling.

"Quit your laughing!" he shouted. "Why don't you just shut up and fight so we can take you down?"

"OOOOooo, you are very enthusiastic, young man!" the villain laughed again. "Perhaps I should try the ultimate hand weapon against you. The weapon that, next to missiles and bombs, is the most feared weapon of all! The weapon that I am sure you have yet to face for yourselves. And you, little boy, will be its first victim!"

"Come on, I can take anything you throw at me!" challenged Wally.

The madman grinned and chuckled evilly as, while tossing away the laser weapon, went inside the overcoat and produced another weapon in one hand. Suddenly Wally's blood ran cold, his body froze in place, his eyes widened like a deer in a car's headlights, and he could have sworn his heart skipped a beat. The other operatives gasped in shock and horror.

"See ya," smirked the villain as he pulled the trigger. The instant before he did, Abby jumped into the immobile Wally just as the speeding projectile whizzed past.

"ARGH!" escaped from Abby's mouth as she and Wally landed several feet away. Movement returned to Wally, and he wasted no time grabbing Abby and retreating behind some large crates. Numbuhs One through Three joined them.

"H... Holy... HOLY HELL!" Wally yelled. "It-- It's a gun! He's using a REAL GUN!"

"N-No enemy of ours has ever pulled a real gun at us," Hoagie stuttered, his body shaking. "Not even the ones who hate us most -- not even the Delightful Children's Father!"

Kuki sat there, covering her mouth and shaking her head. Abby winced and held her arm. Nigel, who tried his hardest to remain calm, looked at her and took her hand from her limb. He saw a small red line with a liquid of thick red dripping out of it. The bullet grazed her arm.

"Guess I jumped a little late," she said.

"Oh man, oh man! If you didn't push me out of the way in time, he would have... he would have..." Wally choked up and couldn't get the words to come out, but everyone nodded slowly, knowing what would have happened.

"Come out, come out wherever you are, kiddies!" came the demented laughter. The kids shook even more when they heard a loud bang and a flash of light from the side of the crates being used as cover. Kuki shrieked and huddled closer to her friends.

"We've got to get that away from him!" Nigel said, still trying to be calm for his team although his heart rate betrayed him.

Before his friends could even ask how, Nigel dashed out and pointed his 2x4 laser gun at his target. His friends screamed for him to come back but he did not listen.

"You're crazier than I thought," Nigel said quietly.

"I should say the same to you, foolish child!" the man replied as he aimed the handgun. Nigel jumped out of the way just before he shot again. As soon as he landed he fired a laser beam, shooting the handgun right out of his enemy's hand. While the adult was stunned, falling to one knee as he stared at his stung hand, Nigel charged at him, ready to take him down. He jumped up looking to unleash a hard kick in the face.

But the villain suddenly rose up and, gathering strength in his leg and foot, delivered a kick of his own to the gut of the boy. His teammates saw their commander sail across the room, landing on his side and clutching his stomach, gritting his teeth. This angered them and they split it to finish what Nigel tried to do.

The adult was kneeling down to reach for his gun when he heard the war cry of one of his enemies. He looked up to see Wally suddenly up at his face. The Australian kicked the gun away and delivered one-two punches to the face. Wally kept this up with the hardests fists he'd ever thrown, his eyes filled with rage and the desire to see this man beaten beyond recognition.

Just before Wally could finish with an uppercut, the villain suddenly recovered and, dodging the uppercut, punched him in the stomach. Wally doubled over and clutched the damaged area. The villain laughed, brought his hands together then nailed the back of Wally to knock him down. Then finished with a hard knee to the midsection.

As he saw two of his opponents down, he suddenly sensed something and, as if out of instinct, kicked behind him without turning around. His face twisted into a satisfied smile when he promptly heard the grunt. He turned around and found Hoagie before him, his hand on his face, grumbling. Then the man picked him up and tossed him like a javelin to a table full of worthless gadgets. Hoagie crashed right through it and he did not get up afterwards.

Then the villain felt the sting of lasers on his back. He turned and a laser shot him in the chest. He glared at the shooter, Abby, who was holding a 2x4 laser gun of her own with one hand; her other arm was still bleeding from the barely-missed bullet before.

Abby fired rapidly, walking closer and closer to increase the intensity of the blasts and making sure he went nowhere near his pistol. The man covered up to shield from the blasts and looked around. While he was further from his bullet-shooting firearm, he was much, much closer to his laser gun which he dropped in favor of the former. Quickly, he hit the deck and swiftly swiped the laser gun and, with one hand and still lying on the floor, fired a laser and blasting Abby's weapon right out her hand.

The adult licked his lips and laughed insanely again as he shot Abby in various sections of her body except for the cut on her arm. Abby was stepping back at the burning lasers but the madman stood on his feet and kept on firing. Finally, Abby went down on one knee, panting and gritting her teeth in anger and frustration.

"I have incapacitated three of your friends. Yet you continue to oppose me. For that, you must be punished! But not with my handgun, no no. That would kill you too quickly. Instead..." his voice became slow and very cold, "...I'll just have fun torturing you."

And with that, he aimed the weapon at Abby's arm and fired right at it. The graze from the bullet combined with the burn of the laser beam intensified the pain. Abby tightened her lips to keep from yelling out -- she refused to give him the satisfaction. When Abby tried to shield it with her other hand, the madman just fired at that hand and continued blasting the injured arm. He did this repeatedly, bringing Abby to lie on the floor. He laughed maniacally as he brought his boot on both Abby's legs. Abby winced in pain.

The man grinned and stepped away from her. She would not be attacking him again for a while, and by the time she would recover it would be too late.

"Stop it."

The man turned slowly at the small voice. Kuki Sanban stood there some distance away, shaking but glaring right at him.

"Stop it!" she said, louder.

The villain smiled and walked slowly toward her. Kuki's menacing glare turned into eyes of fear as this crazed man drew nearer.

"I was wondering where you were. You had me worried," the man said insincerely. "I thought you would miss out on the fun. Ah yes, I am having so much fun! You have been most entertaining. Your cries of pain, your trembling bodies, your tears screaming for it all to end. Well, it will end, my dear. It will end once I activate my beautiful machine over there, and then the world will sing in unison the ultimate of terrified screams."

Kuki closed her eyes and shook her head quickly as tears formed in her eyes. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, that someone could say something like that and still keep that sick smile on their face. She was shaking; she couldn't move from her spot, much less lift a punch. When she felt a finger raise her chin, she opened her eyes, staring into eyes lost in a world of insanity.

The villain said to her slowly, "And now, you shall join your friends."

And with that, he punched her in the gut much like most of the others. Then delivered a powerful high kick across the face, sending her across the room away from his presence. The man surveyed the area and laughed at each of the heaps on the floor.

"The time has come."

--- PRESENT ---

"We were injured, defeated; we were far from capable of fighting any longer." said Nigel behind the podium. His friends huddled closer as the memories of what the villain did to them flooded back. Abby gently held onto her bandaged arm. Kuki looked from her teammates.

Nigel continued. "It seemed that we failed not only the Kids Next Door but every person who would become that man's victims. Things were looking hopeless..."

--- LAST NIGHT ---

The madman's disturbing laughter echoed again as he pressed some buttons on the machine and keys at the computer. The skylight to the starry night opened as the machine began humming to life.

The still downed Nigel Uno saw this. He looked around at his team. Each one of them were down as well. To him they seemed to be in no shape of fighting. Nigel stood on weak legs, dragged himself several steps, then went on his knees again. He crawled in some mix of despair and determination.

"No..." he said weakly. "I can't let that monster get away with this. It... It can't end this way! I have to stop him! I have to--"

Nigel stopped himself as his eyes beheld what he saw before him...

--- PRESENT ---

Nigel Uno slowly removed his glasses, revealing the intensity in his eyes. Slowly, he finished, "And finally... we managed to stop him."

When he said those words, his comrades looked down as the mental images of the aforementioned moment returned to them. Tears rolled down Kuki's cheeks as the entire memory of the battle came down on her.

--- LAST NIGHT ---

The madman had the largest, most hideous grin on his face. He laughed loud and joyfully as his machine was ready to unleash its doomsday. "It has come! In mere moments, the world will bear witness the ultimate terror! Ha ha ha! Now! May the death bell toll!"

And, right before he could press the button that would activate the cannon and fire the beam which would be directed to various locations via satellite, he heard a loud bang. And immediately afterwards, he felt a sudden impact and pain on his chest. He gasped and grabbed hold; blood stained his shirt and his hand. Again he was shot, and then he was shot again, and again, and again, and again.

His coat and the floor around him dripping in the thick red liquid, he weakly turned to see the source of the shots. When he did, his face twisted into an ironic smile before he was shot a few more times before only clicking was heard. When it was over, the man fell on his knees and stared at the shooter of his own gun. He let out one last, weak laugh before he fell facedown on the floor, breathed one more time, and became motionless.

Nigel Uno stood and viewed, eyes wide, the scene before him. He glanced at the other operatives. Abby, Wally, and Hoagie stared in utter shock, refusing to believe what they witnessed. Kuki, wide-eyed and trembling, stood on one knee, tears streaming from her eyes at what happened. She then broke down and wept as she let down her hands.

Dropping the smoking gun on the hard floor.

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The Treehouse became silent except for the sobs of Kuki Sanban, who unrolled her sleeves and stared at her hands.

"I... I shot him!" she cried. "I shot him! And I killed him. I... I _killed_! I killed--!"

"Kuki!" Nigel cut off, walking away from his podium as he approached the trembling girl. "You did what you had to do!"

"There was nothing else that could have been done," Abby agreed, putting a comforting hand on Kuki's. "All of us were down; we wouldn't have been able to reach that guy in time to stop him."

"If you didn't do what you did," Wally said, "we would have been dead."

"Everyone would have been dead," Hoagie added. "The surviving prisoners have been rescued and Kids Next Door operatives destroyed the cannon and the satellite. You saved us, Kuki. You saved the world."

Kuki stared at her gathering friends, then looked away from them shamefully, afraid to even meet their eyes.

"But... But I killed him. Don't you get it?" she snapped. "I didn't just knock him out so he could be put away! I was so angry, so angry at what he's done, what he was going to do, and WHY! I wanted... I wanted to see him die! I shot him over and over again until he died. A Kid Next Door does not kill. But I did." Kuki stopped speaking, hugging her knees to her chest as she cried into them.

"Kuki," Nigel began. "You made a very tough decision that resulted in the saving of millions of lives. In fact, I believe I heard some share the same sentiments you do. They thought ending him was the best thing to do -- Locking him up in the Arctic Base would not have been enough. Global Command understood your actions. You won't be punished. You'll be okay."

Abby gently took hold of Kuki's shoulders. "Look at me, girl." Kuki lifted her tear-stained face to the other girl. "You're going to be okay. We'll get you through this together."

"That's right," Hoagie nodded. "We don't care how long it takes. We're going to try our darndest to make you not sad anymore."

"Yeah, we'll get you all better and soon you'll be back to your singing and dancing, Rainbow Monkey-lovin' self," Wally smiled a bit.

"And we'll start by getting you to bed," said Nigel. "You need some rest."

Kuki looked at them all. Her sobs became sniffles and she wiped away the tears. "Why... Why are you being so nice to me? Why aren't you mad at me? Why aren't you scared of me? Why do you still want to be with me? Even after what I've done and what I did it with?"

Nigel smiled. "Why? Because we're your friends."

Kuki sniffled again as she wiped away the remaining tears. When the sleeve left her face, what was there was a small smile. The four teammates patted her on the shoulder and back and helped her up to her room to get some much needed sleep.

Kuki lied in her warm, fuzzy bed and watched her friends leave the room, with Hoagie and Abby promising her breakfast in bed. Kuki smiled a little and waved after them. When they were gone, she unrolled her long, green sleeves again and looked at her hands.

Although there was no trace of it, she could not help but feel that they were still stained by the blood of that man. She was not sure when it would go away. She was not sure when she would recover from this experience, if ever. But there was one thing she was sure of:

She was still the luckiest girl in the world. Because she had the greatest friends in the world.

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THE END


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